Encasing netting for sausage and method for producing it

ABSTRACT

A tubular encasing netting ( 1 ) for sausage and similar articles. The encasing netting ( 1 ) contains a longitudinally running tear-open thread, the length of which is greater than that of the encasing netting ( 1 ) in the state of use of the latter. This results in loops ( 7 ) of the tear-open thread which are accessible from outside and which can be grasped for tearing open. The netting is expediently a double-rib or warp-knit fabric. The tear-open thread ( 3 ) is received in stitches of this fabric. The invention relates, furthermore, to a method for producing such a netting, to a sausage casing connected to the netting and to an article encased by this netting.

It is known to surround sausage with an encasing netting. This isoriginally intended to relieve the sausage casing of the fillingpressure. It nowadays assumes more and more a decorative character. Itis therefore used not only for types of sausage which lose water in aripening process and from which it can therefore easily be removedlater, but also for fresh sausage. When, in the latter case, theencasing netting is cut lengthways so that it can be removed, thesausage surface is also unavoidably cut into, this being undesirable. Itis known, admittedly, to provide stitched sausage casings with atear-open thread within the seam (DE-U-78 07 929, DE-A-37 25 263).However, encasing nettings are tied or knitted seamlessly as a tube, sothat a longitudinal seam, into which a tear-open thread could beinserted, is not available there. They are also produced continuously,and therefore the tear-open thread is bound over its entire length intothe encasing netting and there is no projecting end at which it could begrasped.

The object on which the invention is based is to make it easier to openthe encasing netting. The solution according to the invention is toprovide it with a tear-open thread, the length of which is greater thanthat of the encasing netting in the state of use. The tear-open threadthereby forms at least one loop which can be grasped from outside inorder to initiate the tearing-open operation.

Expediently, the netting has a structure extendible in the longitudinaldirection, and it has a greater length in the production state than inthe state of use. The tear-open thread is then bound in with a lengthwhich corresponds to the length of the netting during production. Whenthe netting is thereafter reduced to the length of use, the tear-openthread forms loops wherever it is not retained by the netting, that isto say in the open netting honeycombs. It can be grasped there. Theresult can therefore be described by stating that, in the state of useof the encasing netting, that is to say, in particular, on the filledsausage, the tear-open thread forms at least one loop, preferably amultiplicity of loops, which are accessible from outside and which canbe grasped for tearing open.

It is conceivable, admittedly, simply to stitch the tear-open thread tothe encasing netting on the inside. However, since, as a rule, theencasing netting strands are relatively thick, it is very difficult,with a tear-open thread placed in this way, to exert a sufficienttearing-open action on the strands of the casing netting. According toan important feature of the invention, therefore, there is provision forthe honeycomb strands of the netting to be composed of knitting stitchesand for the tear-open thread to be bound into these by knitting. Thismeans that the tear-open thread does not have to sever the entirethickness of the netting strand, but only part of the netting strand, tobe precise only that thread or those threads which are placed outsidethe tear-open thread in the netting strand. This is preferably only asingle thread, that is to say only a small part of the total strandcross section. As soon as it is torn through under the action of thetear-open thread, the stitch belonging to it comes loose, with theresult that the strand is severed.

This effect is easily achieved when the honeycomb strands of theencasing netting, through which the tear-open thread is led, aredesigned in knitting terms as the fringe of a double-rib or warp-knitfabric. In this case, the tear-open thread may lie between a pair ofstitch legs and a sinker thread which stretches from a stitch foot ofone stitch to the stitch foot of the next stitch. The tear-open threadcan thus be bound in particularly easily. Moreover, what can be achievedparticularly easily in this way is that only one thread lies outside thetear-open thread, to be precise the sinker thread. If, duringproduction, the latter initially lies within the double-ribbed orwarp-knitted netting tube, the netting tube is reversed afterproduction.

So that tearing open is not made more difficult due to the fact that aplurality of successive netting strands containing the tear-open threadslip along the tear-open thread and gather together, it may be expedientto secure them. This may be carried out, for example, by adhesivelybonding them to the sausage casing and/or the tear-open thread.

For the sake of easier processability, the encasing netting isexpediently firmly connected, for example adhesively bonded, to theassociated sausage casing. If the sausage casing is a woven or knittedfabric impregnated with collagen, adhesive bonding may take placesimultaneously with the application of the collagen and by means of thecollagen. If the encasing netting is applied only after thesolidification of the collagen or if other sausage casings are used, forexample those consisting of cellulose or synthetic material, adhesivebonding takes place in another way with the addition of a suitableadhesive.

When the sausage casing is being filled, the connection between theencasing netting and the sausage casing may be exposed to highfrictional forces which act mainly in the longitudinal direction. Thisaffects, in particular, the connection between the transversely runningstrands of the encasing netting and the sausage casing. It may thereforebe expedient to ensure that, in addition to such transversely runningnetting strands, there are also those which run in a longitudinaldirection, and that mainly these are used for adhesively bonding theencasing netting to the sausage casing. Adhesive bonding may even berestricted to these netting strands running in the longitudinaldirection or, with regard to these, be at least more secure or morefrequent or over a larger area than in the region of the transverselyrunning netting stands. In the finished product, on which the encasingnetting is closed at the ends, generally together with the sausagecasing, according to the invention the tear-open thread is likewise tobe secured in the end closures, so that, during tearing open, it cannotbe pulled out under the force acting on it.

The invention relates primarily to sausage and similar foodstuffs whichare packaged in an encasing tube having end closures. However, it is notrestricted to these.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to thedrawing which illustrates an advantageous exemplary embodiment and inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows an overall view of a sausage provided with an encasingnetting and with a tear-open thread,

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged part view of the encasing netting withtear-open thread,

FIGS. 3 and 4 show various stitch patterns of a netting strand withtear-open thread, and

FIG. 5 shows the tearing-open operation.

The sausage according to FIG. 1 is contained in a sausage casing whichis sealingly surrounded on the outside by an encasing netting 1. Thesausage casing and the netting 1 are closed together at the ends, forexample by means of clips 2. A tear-open thread 3, which is provided torun continuously lengthways in the encasing netting 1, is also boundinto the clips in a tension-resistant manner.

The encasing netting 1 consists of honeycombs 4 which are formed bylongitudinal strands 5 and transverse strands 6. It is preferably adouble-rib or warp-knit fabric which is produced as a tube and in whichthe transversely running strands 6 are knitted as a fringe (aeratedstitches) and the longitudinally running strands 5 are knitted as atricot. The longitudinally running strands 5 expediently comprise aplurality of (for example, 5) stitches, so that they have somelongitudinal extension and thereby make sufficient area available for anadhesive connection to the sausage casing lying beneath. Thetransversely running strands 6 may have a single-stitch design (FIG. 3)or else a multistitch design (FIG. 4, three-stitch). In any event, thetear-open thread 3 expediently lies between the sinker thread 8, whichruns through from the foot 9 of one stitch to the head 10 of the nextstitch, on the one hand, and the legs 11 of a stitch, on the other hand.In this case, the sinker thread 8 is to lie on the outside of thefabric, so that it alone needs to be torn by the tear-open thread 3. Theassociated stitch as a whole subsequently comes loose.

If the tear-open thread 3 is led through all the transverse strandslying in a row one behind the other, the encasing netting is therebytorn open as a whole and can easily be removed from the sausage. Thelatter can thereafter easily be skinned in the usual way. Thetearing-open operation is made easier when the tear-open thread isadhesively bonded or otherwise connected to the stitches receiving it,in such a way that no stitch can slide along the tear-open thread and begathered together with the next stitch. The same aim is achieved bymeans of the slide-resistant connection of the stitch or of the strandcontaining it to the sausage casing.

Although the tear-open thread 3 is expediently led through stitches ofthe transversely running strands, it may, instead, also be led through alongitudinally running honeycomb strand 5. This applies particularlywhen the latter contains only one or few stitches.

The encasing netting is produced in the longitudinally stretched state.The transverse strands 6 receiving the tear-open thread and running witha considerable transverse component in the state of use (FIG. 2) arethen oriented more or less in the longitudinal direction. The stitches,receiving the tear-open thread 3, of successive transverse strands arethen further away from one another than in the state of use. When thenetting is subsequently converted into the state of use, the netting isshortened, whereas the tear-open thread 3 preserves its length andforms, between the transverse strands 6 receiving it, loops which areaccessible from outside and can be grasped for tearing open.

Since the threads of the encasing netting are relatively thick, if onlyfor visual reasons, the tearing open of the netting may necessitateconsiderable effort in spite of the fact that this is made easier byvirtue of the invention. There is less of this effort if the procedureaccording to FIG. 5 is adopted. A loop 7 of the tear-open thread in themiddle region of the sausage is suspended in a fixed hook 12 andthereafter the sausage grasped with both hands is moved vigorously inthe direction of the arrow 13 first to one side and then to the other.

1. A tubular encasing netting for sausage and the like, wherein saidencasing netting has a longitudinally running tear-open thread, thelength of which is greater than that of the encasing netting which is inthe state of use.
 2. The netting as claimed in claim 1, wherein thetear-open thread forms at least one loop capable of being grasped on theoutside of the netting.
 3. The netting as claimed in claim 2, whereinsaid netting has a structure extendible in the longitudinal direction,and the ends of the loop are connected to points of the netting whichare at a greater distance from one another in the longitudinallyextended state than in the state of use.
 4. The netting as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the netting has honeycomb strands and the honeycombstrands of the netting are composed of knitting stitches, and thetear-open thread is bound into these.
 5. The netting as claimed in claim4, wherein the honeycomb strands of the netting are knitted partially asfringes, and the tear-open thread is bound into the fringes.
 6. Thenetting as claimed in claim 5, wherein the tear-open thread lies betweena pair of stitch legs and a sinker thread.
 7. The netting as claimed inclaim 6, wherein the sinker thread lies on the outside of the netting.8. The netting as claimed in claim 4, wherein the netting strandscontaining the tear-open thread are adhesively bonded to the associatedsausage casing and/or to the tear-open thread.
 9. A method for producinga netting tube by knitting or tying, which has a greater length in theproduction state than in the state of use, wherein, during production, atear-open thread is worked in, which, during the shortening of thenetting at the transition to the state of use, is caused to form,between at least two points at which it is connected to the netting, aloop which is accessible from outside.
 10. The method as claimed inclaim 9, wherein the netting is produced as a double-rib or warp-knitfabric, and the tear-open thread is inserted into knitting stitches. 11.The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the tear-open thread isinserted in each case into a stitch of all the fringes of successivenetting honeycombs.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein thetear-open thread is inserted between the stitch legs and an associatedsinker thread.
 13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the fabricis subsequently reversed, if the sinker thread lies on the inside duringproduction.
 14. A sausage casing which is connected to an encasingnetting as claimed in claim
 1. 15. The sausage casing as claimed inclaim 14, wherein the encasing netting is adhesively bonded to thesausage casing.
 16. The sausage casing as claimed claim 15, wherein theknitted encasing netting has honeycomb strands running in thelongitudinal direction and designed as a tricot, and adhesive bonding tothe sausage casing is more secure or more frequent or over a larger areain the region of these longitudinally running honeycomb strands than inthe region of the transversely running honeycomb strands.
 17. A sausageor the like with a sausage casing closed at the ends, wherein saidsausage is encased by an encasing netting 9 as claimed in claim
 1. 18. Asausage or the like with a sausage casing closed at the ends, whereinsaid sausage is encased by an encasing netting a sausage casing asclaimed in claim 14 and having end closures and the ends of thetear-open thread are secured in the end closures of the sausage casing.19. The netting as claimed in claim 2, wherein the netting has honeycombstrands and the honeycomb strands of the netting are composed ofknitting stitches, and the tear-open thread is bound into these.
 20. Thenetting as claimed in claim 3, wherein the netting has honeycomb strandsand the honeycomb strands of the netting are composed of knittingstitches, and the tear-open thread is bound into these.